Rambling about our Rambling about Prague-Day 2

Prague is even better when you are awake.

We slept like logs after that first night, and woke to renew our relationship with this magnificent city. We decided to begin our first day of "sightseeing" in Prague by looking for the "little man that wasn't there"; Prague's Jews. Like most of Eastern Europe, the Jews of Prague have gone. Only 3,000 or so left in the city. Unlike some other parts of Eastern Europe, Prague has preserved the major synagogues and artifacts of the former ghetto as a memorial to the 120,00 member Jewish community that was decimated during the Nazi's occupation (1939-45). There is a multisite "Jewish Museum" which involves much walking, and frank discussion of the genocide. Now, some would say that this a bit like starting a tour of the United States by visiting a Native American Reservation and the slave Quarters. A bit of a downer. But, to understand a culture, one must look at the beauty and the beast. So we began walking through a Prague that is no more; the 16 block area that used to house the ghetto.

The synagogues were beautiful. We saw one from 1270, another from the 1500s and one done in a Moorish style from the 1800s- beautiful spiritual spaces. The Jewish cemetary was emblematic of the "problems"- it was small and cramped, forcing generations of Jews to be buried literally on top of each other. The "Enlightenment" of the 1800s, with assimilation and integration of Jews and Christians was a marvel to behold. The relations between the Jews and the Christians in Prague were complex, and had been carefully negotiated for centuries before the Nazi occupation. But it was working. In fact the ghetto was razed in the 1890s because most of the Jewish folk had moved to the suburbs, and lived among their Christian neighbors. The Jewish quarter at the "fin de siecle" was rebuilt, and housed a thriving business community. It was stunning to see how quickly it unraveled in 1939. The scariest part was that the Czech government passed the first anti-Semitic laws 6 months before the Germans came to occupy the country as the "Provinces of Bohemia and Moravia". First, the Jews were moved back to the Ghetto. Then they were labeled. Then they were sent to the model ghetto of Terezin. Most were "sent East" to the gas chambers in Poland or Byelorus or Ukraine. Ultimately, 80,000 of the Czech Jews died in the camps. We saw a temple on which each of the names of those killed in the Holocaust are written on the walls. It is a sacred space, a beautiful, horrible space, a fitting memorial. We saw pictures drawn by children in the camps, now on permanent display. How can one reconcile this horror with the beautiful and hospitable city in which we wandered yesterday?

I think I will be wrestling with that one for the rest of trip. The short answer is that humanitity is a complicated beast and can create both amazing beauty and amazing horror, often in the same space. Benefit St. in Providence and the slave trade both exist, and must be grokked in fullness to understand humanity.

We pondered that as we wandered the city. We saw Wenceslas Square, where the Prague spring died in 1968, and where the 20-year old philosophy student, Jan Palach set fire to himself on 16th January 1969 in protest. There is a cross in the ground on the spot. 21 years later, students like him participated in the velvet revolution that restored Czech democracy. We saw the 21 crosses in the ground outside of the town hall, where the counter-reformation executed the Protestant Hussites who stood up for freedom. We walked the Karluv Most (Charles Bridge), where every other statue commemorates someone who died to make the city a better place. Really bad stuff has clearly been happening for a long time; what Prague has done is integrated those stories into its soul. Intrinsic in the city is the notion that we cannot forget the painful side of humanity- and that the message of those deaths will eventually come back to make it a much better place. It started with remembering, and, sometimes, from the pain comes great beauty.

All of this involved a lot of walking; it was a really tiring day. After a vigourous lunch of dumplings (potato and bread) and meat and beer at a place that spoke only Czech, we decided to try to go to the ballet. Needed a bit of beauty, you see. Got lost trying to the find the ballet (very easy to get lost in this town), and then it started to rain while we were waiting for the box office to open. When they opened, it was to tell us that the ballet was closed (illness in the dancers, apparently) which led to a long walk to one of the many "tourist concerts" in the old town. Interesting venue (the Klementinum - Hall of Mirrors) , apparently an old library, with a "string ensemble" (piano and 5 string players). They were good, although the program seemed to emphasize things that involve really fast first violin parts that she played faster than was necessary. It's a living. Wandering home, however, we found an outdoor cafe that made us veal and pizza (with curry and corn!) that was absolutely great- and it was in a square that had a blues band playing at the other side. Glorious. There is truth and beauty out there. It just sometimes shows up in unexpected places.

Like this statue of Franz Kafka that we stumbled across. Truth and beauty. I still love Prague. I am even starting to understand it a little bit.

Slept like logs. Again.